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唐 Tang · 赋 Fu rhapsody

阿房宫赋·版本二

The Rhapsody on the Epang Palace (Version II)

杜牧

Du Mu

赋Rhapsody 借古讽今Using the Past to Admonish the Present 秦亡The Fall of Qin 爱民Love of the People

嗟乎！
一人之心，千万人之心也。
秦爱纷奢，人亦念其家。
奈何取之尽锱铢，用之如泥沙？

Alas! The heart of one man is the heart of ten million men. Qin loved extravagance and splendor, but the people too think of their own homes. How could one take from them to the last coin and the last grain, and use it like mud and sand?

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Meaning

The argumentative pivot of Du Mu's 'Rhapsody on the Epang Palace,' written in the first year of Baoli (825) when Du Mu was in his early twenties, admonishing the extravagance of Emperor Jingzong of Tang through the fall of Qin. 'Alas! The heart of one man is the heart of ten million men' sets the argument with the judgment sentence: the heart of the sovereign and the heart of the people are the same, the human heart the same and the principle the same. 'Qin loved extravagance and splendor, but the people too think of their own homes' sets the extravagance of Qin against the longing of the people for their homes, one extravagant and one frugal, clearly divided. 'How could one take from them to the last coin and the last grain, and use it like mud and sand?' asks with the parallel: the taking to the last coin and the last grain and the using like mud and sand, the rapacity and the waste of Qin, the question striking with the force of a thousand. The passage, from the argument to the contrast to the question, is the pivot of the whole rhapsody's admonition: the greed of the taking and the waste of the using are the very cause of the fall of Qin, and the admonition of the present through the past.

唉！一个人的心，也就是千万人的心啊。秦始皇喜爱豪华奢侈，百姓也顾念自己的家。怎么能搜刮百姓时一点一滴都不放过，挥霍起来却像泥沙一样毫不爱惜呢？

Appreciation

The art of the rhapsody is concentrated in this passage. First, the sentence-forms of the loose and the even intermingled: the whole rises with the two characters 'alas,' like a long sigh, the air of the grief and the indignation coming to the face; 'the heart of one man is the heart of ten million men' sets the argument with the judgment sentence, the principle and the feeling fused; 'Qin loved extravagance and splendor, but the people too think of their own homes' contrasts with the parallel sentence-forms, one extravagant and one frugal, clearly divided; and 'how could one take from them to the last coin and the last grain, and use it like mud and sand?' closes with the even parallel, one question with the force of a thousand. The even sentences are exact without the stiffness, the loose sentences are free without the looseness, the sharpness of the argument and the vehemence of the sound and the feeling both present. Second, the structure of the contrast layer on layer: the 'Qin loved extravagance' of the former against the 'the people think of their homes' of the latter, the heart of the one against the heart of the ten million, the taking to the last coin against the using like mud and sand—the contrast layer on layer, the greed and the waste of Qin written to the full, and the admonition of the present through the past in the question.

【白话串讲】杜牧写《阿房宫赋》：“嗟乎！一人之心，千万人之心也”——秦朝皇帝的心，也是千万百姓的心。“秦爱纷奢，人亦念其家”——“奈何取之尽锱铢，用之如泥沙”——搜刮百姓锱铢必较，挥霍起来却如泥沙——“秦人不暇自哀，而后人哀之”——他讽当权者。【意象与手法】此段为全赋议论之枢机，句式骈散相间：「嗟乎」二字振起全段，悲慨之气扑面；「一人之心，千万人之心也」以判断句立论，情理双至；「秦爱纷奢，人亦念其家」以「秦」与「人」对举，对照鲜明；「奈何取之尽锱铢，用之如泥沙」以「取」与「用」对照、「锱铢」与「泥沙」对照，一问收束，字字千钧。骈句之工整与散句之跌宕结合，议论之锋利与感情之激越交融。【情感与主旨】杜牧作此赋，意在借秦之覆亡讽唐之当世——唐敬宗宝历年间大兴土木、广建宫室，杜牧以秦为鉴，警诫当权者：不爱民者必失民心，取尽用奢者必致灭亡。「一人之心，千万人之心也」之立论，正是孟子「民为贵」思想在赋体中的回响。【名句点睛】「奈何取之尽锱铢，用之如泥沙」两句，以问句出之而力量千钧：「锱铢」状搜刮之细，「泥沙」状挥霍之奢，取之一分一厘，用之一掷千金，两相对照，秦之虐政毕现。此问不待回答，而答案已在不言中——取尽用奢，民心尽失，此秦之所以亡也。

Background

Du Mu (803–852), courtesy name Muzhi, a native of Wannian, Jingzhao, was a famous poet and man of letters of the late Tang, paired with Li Shangyin as 'the Lesser Li and Du,' with the Collected Works of Fanchuan handed down. He was born of a family of generations of the great officials, his grandfather Du You having been Grand Councillor and written the Comprehensive Institutions; Du Mu from his youth had great ambitions, delighted in the discussion of the military, annotated the Art of War of Sunzi, and cared for the state and the people. The 'Rhapsody on the Epang Palace' was written in the first year of Baoli (825), when Du Mu was in his early twenties. Emperor Jingzong Li Zhan, on his accession, neglected the government and delighted in the great construction, building palaces and towers extravagantly without measure, the government daily worse. Du Mu, moved by this, used the matter of the First Emperor's building of the Epang Palace and the swift fall of the state, and wrote the rhapsody in admonition, opening directly with 'the six kings ended, and the four seas were one; the mountains of Shu were laid bare, and the Epang Palace rose,' and closing with the bitter words 'the men of Qin had no leisure to grieve for themselves, and the men of later ages grieve for them; the men of later ages grieving for them without taking them as the mirror, will make the men of later ages grieve for the men of later ages again.' This passage, 'Alas! The heart of one man is the heart of ten million men,' is the pivot of the argument of the whole rhapsody.

杜牧（803—852），字牧之，京兆万年人，晚唐著名诗人、文学家，与李商隐并称「小李杜」，有《樊川文集》传世。他出身于世代簪缨之家，祖父杜佑曾任宰相，著有《通典》；杜牧少有大志，好论兵事，注《孙子兵法》，关心国计民生。《阿房宫赋》作于唐敬宗宝历元年（825），时杜牧仅二十余岁。唐敬宗李湛即位后，荒于政事，好大兴土木，广建宫室楼台，奢靡无度，朝政日非。杜牧有感于此，借秦始皇营建阿房宫而迅即亡国之事，作赋讽谏，开篇直言「六王毕，四海一；蜀山兀，阿房出」，结尾痛陈「秦人不暇自哀，而后人哀之；后人哀之而不鉴之，亦使后人而复哀后人也」。本段「嗟乎！一人之心，千万人之心也。秦爱纷奢，人亦念其家。奈何取之尽锱铢，用之如泥沙」正处在全赋由铺陈转议论的枢纽位置：前此极写阿房宫之壮丽、宫中生活之奢靡，至此笔锋一转，由物及政，直斥秦之取民无度。据史载，秦始皇三十五年（前212）营建阿房宫，规模空前，动用刑徒七十余万，然工程未竟而秦已亡；杜牧据传闻逸事铺衍成文，重在借古讽今，非为考史。

Art

The art is the loose and the even intermingled and the contrast layer on layer: the 'alas' rises with the sigh, the judgment sentence sets the argument, the parallel contrasts the extravagance with the frugality, and the question closes with the force of a thousand. The contrast layer on layer—the heart of the one against the heart of the ten million, the taking to the last coin against the using like mud and sand—writes the greed and the waste of Qin to the full, and the admonition of the present through the past in the question.

《阿房宫赋》是文赋的代表作，其艺术特色在此段中表现得尤为集中。其一，骈散相间的句式：全段以「嗟乎」二字振起，如长叹一声，悲慨之气扑面而来；「一人之心，千万人之心也」以判断句式立论，情理交融；「秦爱纷奢，人亦念其家」以对举句式对比，一奢一俭，判然分明；「奈何取之尽锱铢，用之如泥沙」以骈偶收束，一问而力量千钧。骈句工整而不板滞，散句跌宕而不松散，议论之锋利与声情之激越兼而有之。其二，层层对照的章法：前句「秦爱纷奢」对「人亦念其家」，是秦与民之对照；后句「取之尽锱铢」对「用之如泥沙」，是取与用之对照；「锱铢」（极言其细）对「泥沙」（极言其贱），更是数量与价值的两重对照——取之愈细，用之愈奢，其暴其虐，昭然若揭。其三，以「问」代「斥」的手法：「奈何」二字领起反诘，不直接指斥而令读者自悟，其讽刺力量远胜直斥。全段由判断而对比而反诘，层层推进，骈散兼行，是杜牧「以赋论政」的典范段落，也是唐宋文赋「体物写志」精神的集中体现。

Allusions

Though short, the cultural import of the passage is deep, its thought reaching directly to the people-based thought of the pre-Qin Confucians. 'The heart of one man is the heart of ten million men' is the rhapsodic expression of Mencius's 'the one who delights in the joy of the people, the people also delight in his joy; the one who grieves at the grief of the people, the people also grieve at his grief'—the heart of the sovereign and the heart of the people communicate, the human heart the same and the principle the same; 'Qin loved extravagance and splendor, but the people too think of their own homes' is the constant of the human feeling of Mencius's 'what they desire, gather it for them; what they dislike, do not inflict it on them': the King of Qin desires the enjoyment of the extravagance, and the people also desire the peace of their homes, the natural principle and the human feeling, how could the sovereign take from the people to the last coin and the last grain for his own enjoyment?

此段虽短，而文化意蕴极深，其思想血脉直通先秦儒家的民本思想。「一人之心，千万人之心也」即《孟子·梁惠王下》「乐民之乐者，民亦乐其乐；忧民之忧者，民亦忧其忧」的赋体表达——君心与民心相通，人同此心，心同此理；「秦爱纷奢，人亦念其家」即《孟子》「所欲与之聚之，所恶勿施尔也」的人情之常：秦王欲享奢靡，百姓亦欲安其家室，此乃天理人情，岂能以一己之欲而夺万人之欲？「取之尽锱铢，用之如泥沙」二句，则直承《尚书》「玩人丧德，玩物丧志」与《左传》「民生在勤，勤则不匮」的告诫——取民无度，用民无节，民力既竭，国祚必倾。就赋体传统言，「嗟乎」之叹承枚乘《七发》「楚太子有疾」的劝诫笔法，而「一人之心」之论又开宋代文赋议论化之先声。秦亡之教训，自贾谊《过秦论》「仁义不施而攻守之势异也」以来，历代文士反复致意，杜牧此段以赋体出之，以情动人、以理服人，是「以史为鉴」传统在晚唐的一次高扬。

Commentary

The 'Rhapsody on the Epang Palace' is one of the most influential masterpieces of the rhapsody, recited unceasingly through the ages, and this passage is the pivot of the argument and the warning of the whole rhapsody. Since the Tang and the Song, the piece has been included in countless anthologies and textbooks: the Song Finest Blossoms of the Literary Garden and the Selected Essence of Tang Prose both included it, and the Ming and Qing anthologists held it as the standard of the prose rhapsody, Yao Nai's Classified Anthology of the Ancient Prose calling it 'the first rhapsody of a thousand years.' The critics of the later ages especially value its realistic character of 'using the past to admonish the present': Du Mu, admonishing the extravagance of Jingzong with the Epang Palace, and the close's 'the men of Qin had no leisure to grieve for themselves, and the men of later ages grieve for them; the men of later ages grieving for them without taking them as the mirror, will make the men of later ages grieve for them again' has become the eternal warning of the rise and the fall of the state.

《阿房宫赋》是赋体文学中影响最大的名篇之一，历代传诵不衰，此段更是全赋的议论枢纽与警策所在。自唐宋以来，此文入选无数选本教材：宋代《文苑英华》《唐文粹》皆录之，明清选家更奉为文赋圭臬，姚鼐《古文辞类纂》称其「千古第一赋」。后世论者尤重其「借古讽今」的现实品格：杜牧以阿房宫之役讽唐敬宗之奢，文末「后人哀之而不鉴之，亦使后人而复哀后人也」遂成千古警句，「以史为鉴」由此成为中国政治文化的基本命题。就思想史言，「一人之心，千万人之心也」把孟子民本思想引入赋体，使赋由铺陈扬厉一变而为议论讽谏，实开宋代文赋（如苏轼《赤壁赋》）议论化之先声；就文学史言，此赋融骈赋之铺排、文赋之议论、诗歌之韵律于一炉，是赋体由汉大赋、六朝骈赋向唐宋文赋演进的里程碑。当代更将「秦爱纷奢，人亦念其家」「取之尽锱铢，用之如泥沙」视为批判奢靡、警示廉政的经典表述，其现实生命力历千年而不衰。

Prosody

Form Tang prose rhapsody (loose and even intermingled, the rhapsody made argumentative)唐代文赋（骈散相间，赋体议论化）

Rhyme This passage does not rhyme, the cadence formed by the even parallel sentence-forms. The 'alas' stands alone as a sentence, the sigh rising; 'the heart of one man is the heart of ten million men' is a judgment sentence, the syllables easy; 'how could one take from them to the last coin and the last grain, and use it like mud and sand?' is even and pressing, the question with the force of a thousand此段不押韵，以骈偶句法形成声情节奏。「嗟乎」二字独立成句，一叹振起；「一人之心，千万人之心也」为判断句，音节舒缓庄重；「秦爱纷奢，人亦念其家」为对偶句，双峰对峙；「奈何取之尽锱铢，用之如泥沙」为骈偶问句，「取之」「用之」相对、「锱铢」「泥沙」相对，音节铿锵，一问收束。全段由散入骈、由缓入急，节奏步步收紧。

Tone pattern The 'alas' rises with the sigh, the judgment is even, the contrast is clear, and the question presses—the whole from the sigh to the argument to the question, the vehemence of the admonition carried by the rhythm句式以四字、六字为主，骈散错落。「嗟乎」二字声调高亢拖长；「一人之心」四字一顿，「千万人之心也」六字缓收，庄重端凝；「秦爱纷奢」对「人亦念其家」，四字对五字，铿锵有致；「奈何」二字提起反问，「取之尽锱铢」五字急促，「用之如泥沙」五字沉痛，一问而气尽。全段语调由叹而议、由议而斥，层层递进，声情与辞情高度统一。

Reading note The cadence of the passage, from the sigh of the 'alas' to the pressing question, carries the vehemence of the admonition, the greed and the waste of Qin.此段声情之美，在于「以叹起、以问收、骈散相生」。首句「嗟乎」独立成声，是全段情感的引爆点：前文以排比铺陈阿房宫之壮——「覆压三百余里，隔离天日」「五步一楼，十步一阁」「廊腰缦回，檐牙高啄」，声浪层层堆高，至此「嗟乎」一声，如雷击长空，繁华之音戛然而止，悲慨之气喷薄而出。继而「一人之心，千万人之心也」以散句立论，音节由高亢转为沉缓，如叹息后的正色陈词；「秦爱纷奢，人亦念其家」转为对偶，四字对五字，声调铿锵，把「秦」与「人」的对照敲得字字分明。至「奈何取之尽锱铢，用之如泥沙」，「奈何」二字以仄声提起，如当头棒喝；「取之尽锱铢」「用之如泥沙」两个五字句，前句急促（「尽锱铢」三字一泻而下），后句沉痛（「如泥沙」三字低回收住），一问既出，全段文气戛然而止，而余怒未平。全段仅三十余字，而叹、议、问、斥四层声情俱全，由缓入急、由柔入刚，是赋体「以声写情」的绝妙段落，读之如闻杜牧当筵拍案、抗声而谏。

Line by line

嗟乎！一人之心，千万人之心也。

Alas! The heart of one man is the heart of ten million men. (The argument with the judgment sentence: the heart of the sovereign and the heart of the people are the same, the human heart the same and the principle the same, the sigh rising with the argument.)

唉！一个人的心，也就是千万人的心啊。

Alas! The heart of one man is the heart of ten thousand.

「嗟乎」一声长叹振起全段，如惊雷破空，把前文铺陈阿房宫之壮丽、宫女珍宝之富丽的繁华景象骤然打断，笔锋由物转人、由叙转议。「一人之心，千万人之心也」是立论之基：帝王一人之心，本与天下千万人之心相通——人同此心，心同此理，君之所欲，民亦欲之。此句有三层深意：其一，指出秦王之奢欲并非不可理解的人性之常（人谁不爱享乐），为下句「人亦念其家」立论；其二，更指出君王若以一己之欲凌驾万民之欲，则必失民心——一人之心的满足，不该建立在千万人之心的剥夺之上；其三，以「一人」对「千万人」，数量悬殊而心性相同，为后文「取之尽锱铢」的暴政作理论上的铺垫。这一判断句情理兼至，是全文议论的出发点，也是孟子「与民同乐」思想在赋体中的回响。

The long sigh alas! lifts the passage, like a thunderclap cleaving the air, suddenly breaking off the preceding unfolding of Epang's splendor and the palace women's and treasures' riches, the pen turning from the thing to the man, from narrative to argument. The heart of one man is the heart of ten thousand is the basis of the thesis: the ruler's one heart originally answers the hearts of the ten thousand - men share this heart, this heart shares this reason, what the ruler desires, the people also desire. This line holds three layers of deep meaning: first, pointing that Qin's luxury is not an incomprehensible human abnormality (who does not love enjoyment?), laying the ground for the next line the people, too, loved their homes. Second, further pointing that if the ruler sets his one desire above the ten thousand's, he will lose the people's hearts - the one heart's satisfaction should not be built on the plunder of the ten thousand's hearts. Third, opposing the one man to ten thousand men, the numbers vastly different yet the heart's nature the same, laying the theoretical ground for the later taking every last penny's tyranny. This judgment at once reason and feeling is the starting point of the whole's argument, and the echo of Mencius's sharing joy with the people in the rhapsodic form.

秦爱纷奢，人亦念其家。

Qin loved extravagance and splendor, but the people too think of their own homes. (The contrast with the parallel sentence-forms: the extravagance of Qin against the longing of the people for their homes, one extravagant and one frugal, clearly divided.)

秦始皇喜爱豪华奢侈，百姓也顾念自己的家。

Qin loved pomp and luxury; the people, too, loved their homes.

两句对举，一「秦」一「人」，一「爱」一「念」，对照之下，秦政之非自见。「纷奢」指繁华奢侈，「念其家」指顾念家室生计——秦王之「爱纷奢」与百姓之「念其家」，本是同样的人之常情，何罪之有？然秦王却以己之「爱」夺民之「念」：要建阿房宫，便取尽天下之力，使民不能「念其家」。此句的深意在于：杜牧不斥秦王之「爱」本身，而斥其「爱」而无度、以一人之爱剥夺万人之念——「爱」是人性，「念其家」更是天理，二者本可并存，而秦以暴政毁之。「人亦念其家」五字，写出百姓最基本、最卑微的愿望，也写出秦政对这人情之常的彻底践踏，为下句「取之尽锱铢」的控诉蓄势。以「爱」对「念」，二字皆情，而一奢一俭，对照中见出批判的锋芒。

The two lines set together, one Qin one people, one loved one loved, the contrast showing Qin's wrongdoing of itself. Pomp and luxury means splendor and extravagance, loved their homes means caring for the household's livelihood - Qin's loved pomp and luxury and the people's loved their homes are originally the same common human feeling, what fault? Yet Qin uses his own loved to plunder the people's loved: to build Epang, he takes the strength of all the world, making the people unable to love their homes. The deep meaning of the line lies in: Du Mu does not condemn Qin's loved itself, but its loved without measure, using the one man's love to rob the ten thousand's care - loved is human nature, loved their homes is even more the heavenly reason, the two originally able to coexist, yet Qin's tyranny destroying them. The five words the people, too, loved their homes write the people's most basic and humblest wish, and write Qin's thorough trampling of this common human feeling, gathering force for the next line's taking every last penny's indictment. Opposing loved to loved, the two words both feeling, yet one luxury one thrift, the edge of the critique showing in the contrast.

奈何取之尽锱铢，用之如泥沙？

How could one take from them to the last coin and the last grain, and use it like mud and sand? (The question with the even parallel: the taking to the last coin and the last grain against the using like mud and sand, the rapacity and the waste of Qin, one question with the force of a thousand.)

怎么能搜刮百姓时一点一滴都不放过，挥霍起来却像泥沙一样毫不爱惜呢？

How could they take every last penny, yet spend it like mud and sand?

此二句是全段最警策之处，以反诘问句收束，力量千钧。「取之尽锱铢」写搜刮之酷：锱、铢皆古代极小的重量单位（一锱为六铢，一铢为一两的二十四分之一），「尽锱铢」即连一锱一铢都不放过，搜刮之细之苛，无以复加；「用之如泥沙」写挥霍之奢：泥沙贱而无用，视民脂民膏如泥沙般弃掷不惜。「取」与「用」两相对照，「锱铢」与「泥沙」两相对照，一入一出，一细一奢，秦政之暴虐奢靡，尽于此一问之中。而「奈何」二字，是不解之问，更是愤极之斥——杜牧故作不解，正见其不忍卒言：人间竟有如此取尽用奢之政！此问不待回答，答案已在不言中：取尽用奢，民心尽失，此秦之所以亡也。二句铸为格言，千百年来成为谴责横征暴敛、骄奢淫逸的经典表述。

The two lines are the passage's most alert point, closing in a rhetorical question, the force a thousand catties. Taking every last penny writes the cruelty of the extortion: the zi and zhu both ancient tiny weight units (one zi six zhu, one zhu one twenty-fourth of a tael), every last zi and zhu meaning not sparing even one zi or one zhu, the extortion's minuteness and rigor beyond increase. Spending it like mud and sand writes the wasteful luxury: mud and sand cheap and useless, treating the people's fat and blood like mud and sand cast away without care. The two words take and spend set against, every last penny and mud and sand set against, one in one out, one minute one wasteful, Qin's tyranny and luxury all within this one question. And the two words how are a question of incomprehension, and even more the rebuke of utmost wrath - Du Mu feigning incomprehension precisely showing he cannot bear to say: how in the world can there be such a government of taking all and spending wastefully! This question needs no answer, the answer already in the silence: taking all and spending wastefully, the people's hearts all lost, this is why Qin fell. The two lines cast as a maxim, for a thousand years a classic expression of condemning exactions and wanton luxury.

Study

Word focus

嗟乎 Alas. The word of the sigh: the whole passage rises with the two characters, like a long sigh, the air of the grief and the indignation coming to the face, the vehemence of the admonition in the two characters. 「嗟乎」二字独立成句，是全段文气的总开关。「嗟」训叹息，「乎」为语助，二字连用，是文言中感叹之极致的标准形式，如《论语》「嗟乎！死生有命」、《史记》「嗟乎！燕雀安知鸿鹄之志哉」，皆以「嗟乎」振起，悲慨之气先声夺人。杜牧置「嗟乎」于此段之首，用意有三：其一，在章法上，前文铺陈阿房宫「覆压三百余里」的壮丽、「明星荧荧」的奢华，至此笔锋陡转，一声长叹把繁华之景骤然击碎，由叙入议，转得干净利落；其二，在声情上，「嗟乎」二字音节高亢而拖长，如临高长啸，把前文积蓄的盛气尽数泄出，化为对秦政的悲愤；其三，在结构上，「嗟乎」领起全段议论，与文末「呜呼！灭六国者六国也，非秦也」的「呜呼」前后呼应，一叹再叹，形成全赋感情的波浪。两字之置，可见杜牧炼字安句之功。

纷奢 Extravagance and splendor. The word of the greed: 'Qin loved extravagance and splendor'—the extravagance and the splendor of Qin's love, against the longing of the people for their homes, the greed of the sovereign in the two characters. 「秦爱纷奢」之「纷奢」，训繁华奢侈，二字连用，写尽秦宫廷之富丽与秦王之奢欲。「纷」本义为众多、杂乱，引申为繁华、纷华；「奢」训奢侈、浪费。二字连文，「纷」状其多，「奢」状其甚，音节响亮而意象铺张，正合赋体「铺采摛文」的本色。而杜牧此处用「纷奢」而不说「奢侈」「奢靡」，尤见炼字之妙：「纷」字写其多——珠宝纷陈、宫室纷列、歌舞纷繁，无所不备；「奢」字写其过——取民之财，逾礼越制，穷极人欲。二字把「爱」的对象写得具体可感，为下句「人亦念其家」的朴素愿望作对照：一边是纷陈的奢华，一边是温饱的家室，奢俭悬殊，而民之念家不过求一饱一暖，秦竟不能容——「纷奢」二字之富丽，反衬「念其家」三字之微薄，对照之下，暴政之酷愈见。

锱铢 The last coin and the last grain (the smallest unit of weight). The word of the rapacity: 'take from them to the last coin and the last grain'—the taking to the last tiny unit against the using like mud and sand, the rapacity and the waste of Qin in the two characters, the sharpest contrast of the passage. 「取之尽锱铢」之「锱铢」，是全文最见炼字之功的关键词。锱、铢皆古代重量单位：一锱为六铢，一铢为一两的二十四分之一，合言之，极言分量之微、数量之少。杜牧以「锱铢」状搜刮之细，写秦政横征暴敛的极致——连一锱一铢之微利都不放过，民之膏血，点滴尽取。「取之尽锱铢」与「用之如泥沙」对举：取之如锱铢之细，用之如泥沙之贱，一细一贱、一入一出，把「聚敛」与「挥霍」的两极写尽。若言「取之尽财物」则味薄，唯「锱铢」二字，以极细之量写极酷之政，方见炼字之精。此二字自杜牧铸出，遂成汉语中形容搜刮无度的经典语汇，与「一粒米」「分文必较」等语并传，其警策力量千年不衰。